ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Following a display of fireworks,
Armed Forces hymns and rappellers unfurling a huge
American flag, leaders of the nation's largest
Protestant denomination offered conciliatory words for
their counterparts in the Roman Catholic Church.

At the Southern Baptist Convention's annual
meeting, some speakers warned delegates against
passing judgment as Catholic bishops prepare to
discuss what to do with sex-offending priests.

"We shouldn't enjoy this Catholic mess too much,"
the Rev. Bobby Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church
of Daytona Beach, Fla., said Sunday during a service
sponsored in St. Louis by the Conference of Southern
Baptist Evangelists. "We're waiting on the other shoe
to drop, and when it does, don't be surprised if there
is more and more within our ranks."

The Conference of Catholic Bishops is scheduled to
meet in Dallas later this week to discuss policies
regarding priests who sexually abuse youngsters. The
discussion is expected to focus on calls for
zero-tolerance for priests who molest children in the
future and a second-chance policy for those guilty of
past abuse.

It is difficult to estimate the number of abusive
Protestant ministers. While Catholic churches answer
to a central authority, in the Baptist denomination
and other Protestant faiths, each local church handles
such allegations.

Southern Baptist officials expect some kind of
resolution to be presented this week concerning sexual
misconduct by clergy in the 16-million-member
denomination.

The Rev. Frank Ruff, the Catholic bishops' liaison
to the Southern Baptists, said he thinks most people
attending the convention realize that this is not
exclusively a Catholic problem.

"Our dirty laundry is out there for everybody to
see -- and it's pretty dirty," he said. "But I think
everybody here in leadership knows that there's a fair
amount of sexual abuse that goes on in all
institutions, in all churches, in all schools, in
many, many families."

It was with
horror and sadness that I read about the Southern Baptist
Convention sympathizing with Roman Catholic child molesters.
Instead of pointing Catholics to Christ, the SBC is saying
they are just the same as Rome is! May God give us new
Protestant denominations that will stand up to the sin of
Rome!

"We shouldn't
enjoy this Catholic mess too much" (Rev. Welch) would seem to
indicate that Southern Baptists are enjoying the fact that
Catholic priests are being caught in horrific sin.

As much as I disagree with Catholic theology, I think our
response to this ought to be one of grief followed by the
Gospel, not enjoyment.

Renee from
Michigan 
6/12/2002

Bob Orris,

Read World Magazine's March 30, 2002 issue on Protestant
sexual abuse (worldmag.com). Rome is not the only one who has
a problem with sexual sin. "New Protestant denominations" will
not solve the problem, either. What we need is revival, true
faith, personal accountability, and "abstain[ing] from all
appearance of evil." Every Christian has a responsibility to
strive, by the grace of God, for holiness and
blamelessness.

Excuse my
ignorance, and this is not meant as a pun, but why have a
liaison with somebody or something that does not represent the
belief you stand for and believe to be the true gospel? If it
indeed is true that there is a fair amount of sexual abuse
going on in all churches and "everybody in leadership" knows
about it, what is the leadership doing about it or was it
meant as a smokescreen to divert the attention? If that is all
it's called "dirty laundry" and it's "pretty dirty" I would
not want to have anything to do with its representatives. All
roads lead to the judgement seat, let us be true to the gospel
we represent if it is the God given one and not man-invented.
Love the sinner, hate the sin. Psalms 9:7-8

As a Southern
Baptist pastor I could not agree more with those here who have
taken issue with Bobby Welch's statements. It is sadly one
more expression of worldly thinking in the place of biblical
thinking. It is one more evidence that we view the church not
for what it is, an assembly of redeemed people who belong to
Christ and exist for His glory; an assembly that is to
maintain its purity through church discipline and the highest
standards for its leadership; but a business that is trying to
compete and win against those who have similar offerings.

The Roman Catholic church is an apostate institution. An
old movement? Yes. An institution that is faithful to the New
Testament and can rightly be called the church that Jesus
Christ is building? No. An advancer of the most serious error,
error that confirms souls in their darkness? Yes.

Do we need a liason to such an institution? No. Indeed I am
greatly saddened and disgusted to find we have one.

Lord, please grant a great awakening to our country and let
it begin with those who sit in our churches, but sit in
darkness.